10 Ways AEW Has Listened To Its Audience
All Elite Wrestling, and the crazy concept of listening to what your audience wants.
Since WCW closed its doors in 2001, pro wrestling fans have been used to an industry dominated by the tight, sweaty, steak-eating grip of Vince McMahon.
Truth be told, McMahon was already atop of the industry a few years prior to that, but it was with WCW's demise that Vince now found himself with no competition, and thus VKM could call the shots entirely as he saw fit. And so, that's led to nearly two decades of Vince McMahon doing exactly what Vince McMahon wants - regardless of what his actual audience wants.
It's no surprise, mind, that said audience has been dramatically dwindling over that period, with many opting to avoid WWE rather than be served up acts and angles that they've got no interest in seeing. Once All Elite Wrestling became a reality, though, that offered up fresh hope that wrestling fans may actually have a promotion that is willing to listen to its fan base and that their voices would be heard.
AEW may have only been around for just over a year as of this writing, but it's been largely a case of so far, so good in terms of keeping its finger on the pulse of what its audience wants - and here are just 10 such examples...
10. Tweaking The Dark Order
They may now feel like a massively enjoyable part of AEW programming, but it's easy to forget just how awful the Dark Order was upon first being formed.
There was the slow, trippy videos presented by generic faces in suits, complete with a tone and approach that was nowhere near clicking with the audience. Likewise, the in-ring promos served up by Evil Uno and Stu Grayson had that same monotony to them. Simply put, nobody gave a single sh*t about the Dark Order and even the biggest of AEW fans were calling for the act to be canned.
Seeing this lacklustre response to the faction, AEW changed the group up in two major ways. The first obvious way was by bringing in Mr. Brodie Lee as the Exalted One who was spearheading the Dark Order, but secondly, and most importantly, was the eventual change in presentation to the group.
Even during the first few weeks of Mr. Brodie's on-screen reign, the haze-inducing recruitment videos had been replaced by poorly constructed 'let's poke fun at Vince McMahon's insane quirks' segments. Again seeing that these weren't doing much for fan interest, the Dark Order was once more changed in a way that made you actually want to watch segments and matches that they were in.
The group initially found their footing when allowed to express themselves more freely on Being the Elite, and the positive fan response to those moments led to the Dark Order's TV presentation changed to match up with what people responded to - particularly showcasing the ridiculously entertaining antics of Alex Reynolds and John Silver.
Maintaining an edge to the group's leader, too, it was also great to see Mr. Brodie Lee brutally decimate Cody Rhodes to take the TNT Championship.